Food Scanner
Positively changing people's eating habits.
Objectives
The primary objective of the NHS Food Scanner app is to enable people to make healthier choices by providing real-time nutritional information at the point of decision — the moment it matters most. By allowing people to scan barcodes, the app aimed to reduce the cognitive effort of healthy eating: making sugar, saturated fat, and salt content immediately visible, comparable, and actionable.
Agency: Vidatec
Client: Public Health England
Role: Lead UX Consultant
Features tested
Nutritional Content Insights
Clear, scannable information on the sugar, saturated fat, and salt content of products — designed to be understood in seconds, not studied.
Product Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of food and drink products based on nutritional content, reducing the cognitive load of identifying healthier options at the shelf.
Healthy swap filter
A filter allowing users to surface healthier alternatives based on their own dietary priorities — putting personalised choice architecture directly in the user's hands.
Stages I was responsible for:
User Testing
I produced an interactive prototype of the Food Scanner app and ran testing sessions focused on real shopping behaviours — how people actually make food decisions under time pressure, often with children present. Observing users in this context surfaced insights that a lab setting wouldn't have: the app was being used not just as a personal health tool, but as an active behaviour change intervention within families.
In-depth User Interviews
I conducted interviews with a diverse range of users to understand shopping habits, health priorities, and how the existing app was already embedded in everyday life. A recurring and striking finding was parents using the app as a shared tool with their children — turning nutritional awareness into a family conversation rather than an individual one.
Stakeholder Presentations
I was responsible for presenting research findings and user testing outcomes to key stakeholders — ensuring design decisions were grounded in evidence and clearly connected to the app's public health objectives.
Insights
73%
used Food Scanner when discussing food choices with their children
65%
of participants' children used the app themselves
61% at home · 33% in supermarket
the app had become part of daily life, not just a shopping aid
Conclusion
The Food Scanner project reinforced a core behaviour change principle: the most effective interventions reduce friction at the point of decision rather than relying on education alone. By making nutritional content legible, comparable, and personally relevant, the app helped families build better habits — not through willpower, but through better design. The finding that families were using it together as a shared behaviour change tool was one of the most compelling outcomes of the research.
What people said
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"My mum has diabetes and I rely on this app to confirm the sugar levels in foods. It's one of the apps I would not remove from my phone as I use it all the time."
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"This app is brilliant for checking sugar content. Visually helps my children see what is not good for them."
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"Great for becoming more aware of what's actually in food."